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Audio of Eric Murdock's outburst revealed at Rutgers over Mike Rice

fdfds By Gannett New Jersey In a 14-minute, profanity-laced tirade in the Rutgers men's basketball office the day before his contract expired, Eric Murdock threatened "to tell the God's honest truth about

In a 14-minute, profanity-laced tirade in the Rutgers men's basketball office the day before his contract expired, Eric Murdock threatened "to tell the God's honest truth about Mike Rice," accused the head coach of treating players "like slaves" and shed new light on the nature of his departure from the program.

Audio of the outburst, obtained and posted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, offers a view into the falling out between Rice and Murdock, a Bridgewater resident who spent two years as the Scarlet Knights' director of player development before his contract was not renewed. Murdock followed up on his threat by providing ESPN with a video montage of Rice mistreating players during practice, which created a national firestorm that led to the ouster of Rice and athletics director Tim Pernetti.

The law firm Connell Foley, which Rutgers contracted to investigate the June 2012 dispute between Rice and Murdock, cited the audio recordings in its report that Rutgers made public shortly after Rice was fired in early April. Though it provided few details on the content of the recording, the Connell Foley report cast it evidence that Murdock was dismissed for insubordination.

The wrongful termination lawsuit Murdock filed against Rutgers says he was pushed out because of his objections to Rice's treatment of the players. Rutgers' version goes like this: Rice had questions about Murdock's work ethic, and the last straw came when Rice asked him to address a Rutgers summer basketball camp and Murdock instead that day spoke to a camp at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, where his son, Eric, was camper.

Murdock worked on one-year contracts, and he was not renewed for a third term after his second contract expired June 30. The recording is dated June 29.

"For you to put me on notice because I can't come into the office and fake like I'm doing work on the computer, that's my bad," Murdock said in the tirade, during which he was speaking to associate head coach David Cox. "But my title last I heard was director of player development, and I thought I did a pretty good job of that. But now, since I can't call teams to come to your team camp, you put me on notice? Because of a camp, you're going to fire me? Because of a camp?"

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Murdock later said, referring to Rice, "I disobeyed you. I apologized five times about disobeying you. But please let me explain to you why I wanted to speak to these kids . . . for him to take that away from me, there's really no coming back from that."

In the recording Murdock also made it clear he disagreed with Rice's coaching tactics.

Alluding to concerns expressed by Rutgers' staff that he would make that disagreement public, Murdock told Cox, "I'm not going to do anything to hurt you and I don't want to do anything to hurt (assistant coach) Van Macon. I'm going to tell the God's honest truth about Mike Rice. If that somehow affects you, all I can do is apologize to you."

Cox and Macon remain on the Rutgers basketball staff as assistants to new coach Eddie Jordan.

"I don't want to hurt anybody, but we all have bitten our tongue, because why? He's the boss and you've got to respect the boss," Murdock said. "I've done that, even though there's a lot of things I disagreed with."

Murdock added, "It means the world to give players confidence. You're just going to crack the whip."

Of his impending video disclosure to ESPN, Murdock said, "Maybe everybody will be better because of it. Maybe he will learn to talk to people. You're not dealing with robots. You're dealing with people who have emotions, passions and all that."

Murdock also told Cox he was slighted because Rice ignored his advice on handling players.

"You think you know everything," Murdock said, referring to Rice. "I've played at the highest level. You can't listen to what I've got to say? You can't take my input?"

Reached via cellphone, Murdock declined to comment on the recordings. Barry Kozyra, Murdock's lawyer, told The Chronicle of Higher Education that the tape, "Confirms essentially what we've stated in the complaint, that he raised issues before his was dismissed."

In an e-mail, Rutgers spokesman Greg Trevor said, "Because this matter is the subject of pending litigation, the university has no comment."

In an interview with New Jersey Press Media last month Murdock, who just opened a seafood restaurant in Raritan, reflected on the firestorm in his only public comments since the week Rice was fired.

"I couldn't believe that I was in the midst of all that. Obviously I didn't think it would get blown up to that proportion," he said. "I don't want to say it's changed my life, but it's something I've had to deal with on a daily basis. Some people come up to me and thank me for what I did. It has come up and been a topic of conversation."

Murdock also acknowledged that many Rutgers fans were angry with him but said the truth would come out.

"When they don't know the facts and they see that their university is taking a hit and they feel like I'm responsible, of course I understand," he said.